Deception Part Two: Runnin' On Low
by TheDeep
Summary: The second installment in the Deception series! Quinn's evil plan continues with Jo fighting to save Mac after a crash and a mysterious man sends the car over the bridge's side with Mac inside! Can she save him before it's too late or will Quinn finally get what she wanted? To teach the entire CSI team a lesson?
1. Chapter 1: Over The Bridge

_**Deception Part Two: Runnin' On Low**_

**Ok, I couldn't leave you hanging…so I started up again! I told you it was a series! Hopefully I can hold relatively true to you and answer your questions with Round Two.**

**. . . . . . . . . . . . .**

He didn't really know too much. The crash was a blur, but the water leaking in to the trunk of the car he was now imprisoned in was as clear as day. The top of the trunk was somewhat soft under his searching fingertips and the ropes around his wrists dug deep, but it was all he could do to bite back the panic.

Where the hell was Jo? What had happened to her? The last thing he remembered was being temporarily blinded by headlights shining brightly in his eyes. And then blackness. He knew his shoulder was sore from what he knew was a locked seatbelt from slammed breaks and his head hurt from what he guessed was an injury sustained from hitting either the dashboard or possibly the passenger side window.

He kicked at the trunk one more time, frowned, and slammed his hands against the trunk again, hard.

He needed out of here, fast.

**. . . . . . . . . . . . . .**

Jo watched the tall man from behind the cover of the thick trees near the bridge. Her breath had caught in her throat as she watched him push the car over the edge of the embankment and now she was just realizing she was still holding that breath.

The man was talking in a raised voice to someone on the phone. Jo would've bet a year's salary that he was talking to Quinn and she finally broke through the thin ropes he'd wrapped around her wrists as she had slowly come around.

She looked around the trees to catch one final glimpse of the guy before she slipped back silently towards the banks of the river that laid below the bridge her and Mac had been on before that car crashed in to theirs.

She carefully slipped down the somewhat steep bank to hit the flatter part near the river. She saw the taillights of the car above the surface of the river and her thoughts instantly jumped to Mac.

"Jesus Christ!" she muttered, eyes wide. It was highly unlike her to use such language, but in that instant, she realized where he was.

She looked up and down the bank of the river for one brief moment and looked up to be sure she wasn't being watched by whoever the hell had hit them with that truck and had been on the phone.

She needed to get that car out of the water fast. There was no way she'd be able to get Mac out of that car by herself. For that, she needed a phone.

She bit at her lip and growled inwardly. "You asked for it now, you sick son of a bitch, and this southern girl is gonna give it to you. You mess with my man, I'm gonna mess your life up so bad," she growled, shaking her head and not wasting another second on the bank of the river.

Sometimes…this job presented very gray areas. This was one of those gray areas. And Jo wasn't going to pay any attention to what trouble it could eventually get her in to.


	2. Chapter 2: Send Units, Now!

**So many questions unanswered and a mind blowing episode of Castle on the TV! What better reason to sit down and write Chapter Two?**

**. . . . . . . . . . . .**

"_I'll take care of it!"_ he snarled before he shoved his phone in his pocket.

"Take care of what, you sorry-ass excuse for a son of a damn bitch?" Jo growled, glaring down the man standing on the bridge in front of his truck. He had simply busted too many of her buttons at once for her to give a damn.

He spun around and Jo caught the surprise in his eyes just before she connected her heel with the right side of his jaw, sending him to the pavement with a loud exclamation of pain.

Jo stood over him then as he held a hand to the side of his face and winced. "Yeah, it hurts, doesn't it?" she snarled, reaching for his jacket pocket and finding a gun. "Planning on using this, yeah? Never mind, don't answer that. Give me your damn cell phone, now!"

The man stared up at her in shock as fire burned brightly in her eyes and she aimed the gun directly at his head and he fished his cell phone out and handed it to her.

She eyed him angrily as she punched in "9-1-1" to the phone.

"_9-1-1, what is your emergency?"_ came the voice of an operator who seemed expectant, yet slightly unenthused with her job.

"_This is Detective Jo Danville with the New York Crime Lab, I'm gonna need you to send Aviation and a unit out for me. I'll need someone to fish me a car out of the water, too, alright? And make it quick! I've got an officer in that car and no way to get him out, so if he dies on my watch, I'm blaming everyone you can think of, including you,"_ Jo snapped quickly.

"_Yes, Detective Danville. Can I have a specific location to deploy units to, Detective?"_ the operator asked, sounding suddenly alert and Jo heard her already tapping away on her computer and snap something to one of her fellow operators.

Jo flashed a location to her as she kept a watchful eye on the jerk she'd pulled the gun and phone off.

"_I'm sending units now. Aviation will be there in 10, ok? Units should be there in roughly 15 and I sent for a Bus, Detective."_

"_Great. Thanks a lot,"_ Jo said and slammed the phone back to her pocket.

She turned back to the man. "Give me one fucking good reason to not kill your sorry ass right now?"

He stared back up at her, lying on his back with his elbows supporting him. "Why would you?"

"That detective you just pushed off the side of this bridge?" Jo snapped. She held up her left hand, making sure the suspect could get a good look at the ring she had on from Mac. She caught his alarmed look and she nodded.

"Yeah. That's what I thought. You still wanna play dumbass with me?"

**. . . . . . . . . . . . .**

"_Aviation to Central, we're over the bridge now. They're pulling the car out of the water now. Copy?"_

"_Central to Aviation, we copy."_

"Pop that trunk now!" Don yelled across the bridge down to the officers that now surrounded the car they'd pulled out of the river.

One of the officers nodded and Don quickly put an arm around Jo as the officer pried the trunk open.

"Holy…" Don cut himself off and quickly pulled Jo back from the side of the bridge as he pulled her in to his arms.

"Get the medics down there!" he ordered.

**. . . . . . . . . . . . . . .**

"Detective Taylor? Detective Taylor?"

Three officers and four medics crowded around Mac.

"Detective Taylor?" the medic pried again, checking for a pulse the second time. He shook his head.

Then the detective coughed and the medic gently held a hand against the detective's shoulder, helping him up and telling him to take it easy and asking if he was ok.

"Mac!" Jo yelled, sprinting towards him.

Mac looked up and a smile tugged at the corners of his mouth as she came up and threw her arms around him in a hug.

"Oh my God, you're ok!" Jo had buried her face in his shoulder as he wrapped his arms around her, the water slicking his hair to his head and dripping down his face.

"Yeah, yeah, I'm fine. Are you ok? What happened?" he asked, concerned and Jo looked up to see worried blue eyes looking her up and down to make sure she hadn't been hurt.

Jo had to smile at that. "Leave it to you to not be worried about yourself," she murmured as she wiped some of the water from his face, making Mac smile softly and his gaze fall from being locked with hers for a moment.

The medics and officers around them looked relieved and Don joined the two of them, smiling.

"Good to know _both_ of you are ok. After the robbery…we didn't know where you two were!"

Mac shook his head and the smile slipped off his face. Jo was wearing a similar dark expression.

"Quinn. Quinn Delaney. I met her when I still lived in Chicago," Mac said.

Don nodded and confusion darkened his blue eyes. "She do this to you?"

"What happened before the crash, yes. And I'd bet my life on the fact that she put your friend up there in the squad car up to this as well," Mac said with a nod to the NYPD squad car he could see sitting on the bridge near the truck that had hit the car him and Jo had been in.

"Easy on the bad puns, my dear," Jo said quietly.

Mac sighed and nodded. "I don't blame you on that one," he muttered.

Don nodded as he watched this exchange between the two of them, two of his closest friends.

"Well, Mac…you need a hospital. Actually, I want both of you checked out, so I'll let these guys get you two fixed up," he said with a nod to the medics that had been waiting patiently and making small talk with the several uniformed officers that had been standing with them.

Mac and Jo both nodded, not protesting as the medics led them for the ambulance. Don watched them as they held hands and Jo quietly fussed over Mac's injuries. The motherly actions made Don smirk and Mac patiently let her do her fussing.

He smiled softly at the bond he saw so clearly between them. He would've usually seen Mac brush off the fuss and move on like the stubborn man Don knew him to be, but he'd never been that way with Jo. She brought out an extremely rare side of the older CSI, the side that actually allowed his heart out of his chest.

Don smiled a bit more as he looked back to the river and the car that now sat along the bank. Yeah, he'd almost lost both of them, but there was no doubting that what didn't kill any of them made them all stronger. And that included that funny, strange, sometimes elusive chemistry they called "love."


End file.
